Top 10 Tallest Buildings In New Zealand Today

Sally Polly October 02, 2021 | 06:18

New Zealand is a lovely city with many amazing skyscrapers. Here is 10 most beautiful buildings that you can visit today.

Top 10 most beautiful buildings in New Zealand

The tallest human-made structure in New Zealand stands at 1,076 feet above the ground. Among the tallest structures in the whole of New Zealand include commercial buildings, transmitters, and power plants. Though not comparable to most skyscrapers in the world, they are among the tallest in Oceania.

The Sky tower, reaching 1,076 feet, is the tallest in the southern hemisphere and is the 23rd tallest tower in the world.

Let’s take a look at these 10 tallest and most fascinating buildings in New Zealand in the article below.

The List of top 10 tallest buildings in New Zealand Today

10. HSBC Tower

9. The Sentinel Apartments

8. Huntly Power Station chimneys

7. ANZ Centre

6. Metropolis

5. Vero Centre

4. The Pacifica

3. PWC Tower at Commercial Bay (skyscraper)

2. New Plymouth Power Station chimney

1. Sky Tower

What are the top 10 tallest buildings in New Zealand today?

10. HSBC Tower

Photo: NZ Herald

Recognised as one of New Zealand’s premium commercial buildings, the HSBC Tower is located on Auckland's waterfront between the Ferry Building and Princes Wharf. This prime location offers uninterrupted views of the Waitemata Harbour.

The building is connected via a covered airbridge over lower Albert Street to the Commercial Bay retail centre; home to over 120 local and international retailers including health and beauty amenity, bars, restaurants and eateries.

As part of the Commercial Bay precinct, occupiers of the HSBC Tower experience a truly differentiated and valuable office environment.

The HSBC Tower reaches 29 levels and provides spectacular 360-degree views of Auckland. The floor to ceiling height per floor is a lofty 2.7 metres allowing plenty of natural light in.

A typical floor plate offers 1,358 square metres and the central core promotes efficient use of space with a 10.5 metre distance from core to wall. The absence of columns further enhances efficiency and facilitates open plan, collaborative or agile working environments.

In 2020 Precinct completed a brand new, architecturally designed lobby as well as entire refurbishments to the building's end of trip facilities and bicycle storage area.

9. The Sentinel Apartments

Photo: NZ Herald

The Sentinel (sometimes The Sentinel or Sentinel Tower) is a luxury residential skyscraper in Takapuna, the central business area of North Shore City, New Zealand. The largest and currently only skyscraper in the city, it has 30 storeys, and is 150 m tall. It offers views over the Waitemata Harbour, the wider Hauraki Gulf as well as over to the Auckland CBD skyline. The Sentinel was opened to the first residents in February 2008.

The building contains 117 apartments, with the uppermost two levels forming a 675 m² penthouse, which was sold in 2007 for NZ$11 million. A communal area on level four includes a 25 m x 6 m heated swimming pool and spa, sauna and gym facilities as well as landscaped areas.

The building contains a number of motifs, from the square (used extensively in the glass facade proportions and in smaller details), to a woven flax basket (hinted at in the latticework of the facade) to the spire on top of the building which evokes a sail, especially from further away across the Hauraki Gulf.

The Sentinel was built by Multiplex Constructions for NZ$60 million and was given a non-notified consent by North Shore City Council because the idea of having a landmark building in Takapuna was considered favourably when the developer Cornerstone Group first proposed it in 2003. The developer has also stated that the consenting regulations have since become onerous to a degree that he would not build such a building under current rules.

8. Huntly Power Station chimneys

Photo: Stuff. con, nz

The 1000 megawatt (MW) Huntly Thermal Power Station was built on the lower Waikato River from 1973 to 1983. It is the largest thermal power scheme in New Zealand and its construction brought enormous changes to the small town of Huntly and the surrounding rural landscape. The power scheme was constructed in an area that few people considered to be scenic and its construction did not provoke a national-scale environmental protest. This part of the Waikato region, however, was a place where many people lived and worked and where they fished, boated and swam. At Huntly a small number of groups attempted to use the new language of environmentalism to articulate their own views of the impacts that the power station would have on the local area and in particular on the Waikato River. Their representations helped make tangible to the wider community an invisible landscape of water and air pollution, thereby forcing subtle changes in the operation of the completed power station. They strongly asserted that the impacts on people’s lives of a big development scheme were relevant when considering environmental impacts, and used nascent formal environmental planning processes to articulate cultural connections with the land and the river.

Constructed in 1983, the Huntly Power Station Chimneys stand at 492 feet from the ground level. Huntly Power Station is the largest thermal power station in New Zealand. The government owns a 51% stake in the station. The power station supplies 31% of New Zealand’s electricity needs and has a generating capacity of 1,453 MW. The two chimneys alone have two vents with a diameter of 7 meters. Huntly Power Station is a significant carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emitter contributing to more than half of greenhouse gas emissions by electricity plants in New Zealand. The emissions have made the station a subject of criticism by environmentalists and the government has considered closing it several times but failed because closing it is not economical to New Zealand’s power needs.

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7. ANZ Centre

Photo: Skyscraper Centre

The ANZ Centre is an office skyscraper in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at 23 Albert Street, the tower stands at 151 metres (495 ft) in height and has 35 levels of office space, with a total of 33,187 m2 (357,220 sq ft) floor space. It was formerly known as the Coopers & Lybrand Tower and before that the Robert Jones Tower and it was the tallest building in New Zealand during the years 1991–1999, until it was surpassed by the Metropolis building. Today, it stands as the fifth tallest building in Auckland.

The building was designed by architects, Hassell Pty Limited, and construction of the tower began in 1989, and was subsequently completed in 1991. The tower stood tall and alone on the Auckland skyline until it was shadowed by the construction of the Sky Tower which began in 1995 and was completed in 1997.

6. Metropolis

Photo: Wikipedia

Metropolis is a 40-storey residential / hotel skyscraper in the Auckland CBD of Auckland, New Zealand, developed in 1999 by Krukziener Properties. Commended for its style and quality, the NZ$180 million cost of its construction also led to major financial fallout. Metropolis is considered one of Auckland's most exclusive apartment buildings, and as of 2019 it is the tallest residential building in New Zealand, although it will be surpassed when the nearby Pacifica tops out.

The building was constructed from mainly reinforced concrete from 1997 to 1999, when it became the tallest building in New Zealand for one year until it was surpassed by the Vero Centre. The building contains 368 apartments in addition to 55 hotel rooms and has 7 elevators made by Schindler Group and was designed by Peddle Thorp Architects.

On 11 December 2013, Alain Robert climbed the building as part of a promotion for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

5. Vero Centre

Photo: Wikipedia

The Vero Centre (constructed as the Royal & SunAlliance Centre) is a skyscraper office tower in Auckland, New Zealand. Constructed in 2000 and designed by architect Peddle Thorp, after its construction it became the tallest building in New Zealand surpassing The Metropolis. The centre contains a health club and gymnasium, main entry public foyer, retail outlets in the 5 podium levels, and 32 office levels. It was New Zealand's tallest office tower until June 2019 when the Commercial Bay Commercial Bay (skyscraper) PwC Tower was topped out. It is also known for its 'halo' roof feature.

While atypically tall compared to the surrounding area, its construction is considered to have had a positive effect on the regeneration of the eastern Auckland CBD area. The site had previously been occupied by a number of vacant lots and low-rise buildings, including student accommodation, industrial warehouses and massage parlours.

The developer's design process made use of the "bonus provisions" of the District Plan, allowing them to build more floor area in exchange for public benefits such as displayed works of art and a public plaza. The value of these to the general public has however been called into question by some. Also criticised has been the lack of connection between the two frontage streets through the building.

The building received several awards for energy efficiency (such as the RICS International Award for Building Efficiency and Regeneration in 2001 and the EnergyWise Award 2004), and has been calculated to use around 10% less energy than the average New Zealand Property Council building. The building houses a number of commissioned artworks, including Coral, by New Zealand sculptor Peter Roche.

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4. The Pacifica

Photo: Icon

The Pacifica is an iconic new residential development that has transformed Auckland’s skyline with its concept and style of inner city luxury living - sky high. Situated at 10-12 Commerce Street in the downtown CBD, The Pacifica is New Zealand’s highest residential tower at 178m.

The Pacifica has 57 levels, 54 levels of apartments which includes 282 units, a hotel and amenities. Apartments above the 21st floor include enclosed winter gardens, while some lower-level apartments have balconies.

The project includes amenities such as a lap pool, sauna, steam room, spa, gym and yoga studio, resident’s lounge, library and barbecue terrace. The bottom levels features a 35-suite boutique hotel, a high-end restaurant and cafe.

3. PWC Tower at Commercial Bay (skyscraper)

Photo: NZ Herald

Commercial Bay Tower (PwC Tower) is a mixed-use office tower and retail development in Auckland, New Zealand, completed and officially opened in June 2020.

The development consists of a 41-floor office tower with leasable floors, three mechanical floors, one floor reserved for meeting suites/pods, and a SkyLobby, and a retail precinct with 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft) of retail space, replacing the Westfield Group Downtown Shopping Centre, which was previously located on the site.

The PwC tower is the currently tallest building in New Zealand and the second tallest structure in Auckland behind the Sky Tower.

Construction on site began in mid-2016 with the demolition of the Downtown Shopping Centre. The retail development was originally scheduled to open in October 2018, followed by the office tower in June 2019.

Fletcher Construction, responsible for the overall construction of the development, posted massive financial losses in 2017 due to rising costs in construction. And as Fletcher Construction began to downsize its operational capabilities, the project was subsequently delayed due to numerous extension and additional cost claims to Precinct Properties, with the retail centre to be completed in March 2020 and the office tower to be completed in April 2020.

The building was officially topped out in June 2019.

The retail centre was originally scheduled to be officially opened on 28 March 2020, but just days before a nationwide coronavirus pandemic lockdown was announced and a new opening date was set for June 2020. On 11 June 2020, the development was officially opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

2. New Plymouth Power Station chimney

Photo: Nikau Group

The New Plymouth Power Station (NPPS) was a 600 MW thermal power station at New Plymouth, New Zealand. Located at Port Taranaki, it was dual fuelled on natural gas and fuel oil. Constructed at a time of major hydro and HV transmission developments, it was New Zealand's first big thermal power station planned for continuous base load operation.

The plant has been owned and operated (in turn) by NZED, NZE, ECNZ and Contact Energy. In 2013, the site was sold to Port Taranaki and Methanex.

The power station comprised five identical units, each rated at 120 MW. The boilers were provided by ICL of Derby UK, and the steam turbines were by C A Parsons of Newcastle, UK.

The boilers were balanced draught with tilting burners mounted in the corners of the furnace. Each boiler produced 376 tonnes/hour of steam at 120 bar and 538 °C, with one stage of reheat to 538 °C.

The steam turbines are 3000 rpm single-shaft, three-cylinder (HP, IP and LP) design, with six stages of feed heating. The condenser is a two-pass tubed design, using seawater as the coolant. The generators are two-poled, hydrogen cooled.

Condenser cooling is seawater, with a flow of 12,000 tonnes/hour for each unit.

The chimney is 198 m high, and contains five flues. It is the second tallest structure in New Zealand.

1. Sky Tower

Photo: Pinterest

SkyCity Auckland is home to the iconic 328 metre Sky Tower with 3 fabulous viewing platforms to admire Auckland from atop, a fantastic selection of bars, award-winning restaurants and cafes, two first-class hotels and the world-class SkyCity Casino.

SkyCity Auckland is a destination like no other in New Zealand. It’s an exciting hub with dining, gaming, adrenaline activities & the iconic Sky Tower.

If you’re visiting Auckland for just one day then a trip up the Sky Tower which stands above all other high rise buildings high is a must. View the city from 328 metres high above street level and take in the beautiful views up to 80 kilometres in every direction. Spot the key landmarks a number of volcanoes & historical locations within the greater Auckland area.

At the base of Sky Tower the SkyCity entertainment complex is home to a world–class casino where there’s fun and excitement 24 hours a day seven days a week. Excludes Christmas Day, Good Friday & Anzac Day. Casino admission R20.